Today’s Reading

…the violence [in Hama], while horrible, is still relatively minor compared with the devastation wrought the first time around. Activist groups said that at least 200 people had lost their lives to shelling and snipers in the week’s violence — perhaps 1 percent of those killed in the 1982 massacre.

Heightened media attention is undoubtedly one reason for the Assad regime’s comparative restraint. It is also undoubtedly a factor encouraging Syrians to take to the streetsacross the country in solidarity with their besieged countrymen. Hama’s history may be repeating itself, but this time there’s a chance for a less horrific ending.

Some protesters say they should resort to violence. In towns such as Tel Kalakh, Jisr al-Shughour, Idleb and Deir ez-Zor, which are near the border, weapons are being smuggled in. But rifles and Molotov cocktails are no match for tanks and artillery. Other protesters hope that, if the regime becomes even more brutal, chunks of the army may defect, as they did in Libya. But so far the Alawite-led army, with its array of privileges, has remained loyal to the defiant Mr Assad.